Special Topics in Calamity Physics | 
|  | | | Title: | Special Topics in Calamity Physics | | Author: | Marisha Pessl | | Publisher: | Penguin (Non-Classics) | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 24 April, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0143112120 / 9780143112129 | | List Price: | $15.00 | | You Save: | $4.80 | | Amazon Price: | $10.20 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
“Dazzling,” (People) “Exuberant,” (Vogue) “marvelously entertaining,” (The Dallas Morning News) Marisha Pessl’s mesmerizing debut has critics raving and heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of this “cracking good read”4 is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway school, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with “visual aids” drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.
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Customer Reviews:
• A Lot Of Building Up To... This Ending? 12 October, 2008
I'm not surprised that this book is being turned into a Hollywood movie - its plot and depth should fare well there. The first two thirds of the book spend a lot of time, and as a few other reviewers have noted, a lot of words (so many asides, parentheticals, comparisons, and citations), introducing the reader to a small group of potentially interesting but mostly one dimensional characters. The narrator's voice is clever at first, even a little endearing, but the endless run of words becomes tedious pretty quickly. One starts to yearn pretty quickly for something to happen, for the events continually foreshadowed from page one to finally take this book somewhere. And then, I don't know, 400+ pages in, they do. And the book careens into B movie plot territory. And ends with a quiz.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3PQXRCYB0WX5O
• Special Topics In Descriptive Sentences And Tangents 15 October, 2008
I went into this novel knowing nothing about it -- not the plot, not the hype, nothing. I ended up being both impressed and disappointed simultaneously.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, like it's title, is a mouthful. The book is filled with sentences so overly verbose that it's like trying to read taffy. Most of the time, Pessl manages to make the overly-wordy precocious teen dialogue work, but sometimes it feels forced.
The middle of the book drags, and there are times when I was so unsure as to where the story was going, I began to read into every sentence, every phrase, as if the book was a giant Magic Eye puzzle and I was trying to find the big picture. That said, I think that the book would flounder if the middle was any shorter, and it all pulls together very nicely at the end. Part mystery, part coming of age story, with a term paper sprinkled in, Special Topics in Calamity Physics was an enjoyable if at times frustrating novel
- Reviewed by customer ID: A278KWZ6FSE0S7
• Too Many Words 25 September, 2008
A gripping mystery or at least it would be if presented as a short story of 40 pages or less. The author seems determined never to make a point in three words if it can be spread over three pages and display her erudition at the same time. Clint Thomas
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3HZKYPSUVS1ZY
• Ambitious Exercise In Navel-gazing 22 October, 2008
As I write this there are already 260+ reviews of "Special Topics in Calamity Physics." There's no point in revealing plot points, but I will share what I noticed while reading the book. The first thing that struck me is the use of parenthetical references, especially heavy in the first two thirds of the book. Perhaps it lends "weight" or "authority" to the author by suggesting the breadth and depth of her reading list, but it detracts from the story and suggests by the use of this device that there isn't much of a plot in the first place, which is unfortunate, because this novel has a well thought out plot buried under the asides.
Second, the writing "style" reminds me of music that has been "overproduced." The prose shows the stitchwork of several different editors/revisions, each tweaking the prose in their own fashion and rendering the novel a patchwork quilt of styles instead of one seamless work. In many places the writing seems forced, self-conscious, as if to answer someone's red ink instead of supporting the plot or developing the character.
Third, for me, the real story began just as the novel ended and I was very disappointed that the author, instead of addressing the amazing confrontation that would have to occur between father and daughter, chose to avoid the moment entirely with a lame plot device... a literal 'exit stage left.' Some refer to this novel as "clever" and to a point I would agree, if only in the author's unwillingness to tackle the hard questions by her use of "clever" artifice and a plot twist. Case in point: the last chapter, presented as a 'quiz.' How challenging was it to write that?
Fourth, what is this obsession with meticulously describing what everyone is wearing when they first appear? I know in creative writing the students are told to describe their characters but surely they learned "show, don't tell" is better... there has got to be a way to show that someone is in a skirt or jeans without painting the picture for me!
I liked the way the plot developed. I thought the cast of characters showed promise but fell short from lack of depth. The ending is no ending. Overall, as a novel, this book was as satisfying as a rice cake: lots of flavor and crunch, but when its over you feel as if you haven't eaten a thing...
Perhaps the script for the upcoming movie would be a better read.
I would like to ask one question: in several places in my copy of the book entire words and phrases are missing from the middle of seemingly random sentences. The white space is there, and from the context you can presume what's missing, but is this a deliberate omission? The first time I saw it I thought it a proofing error, but the missing word wouldn't leave a space where it should have been; the second time I wondered if the missing text were related to the "calamity physics" of the title and that by the end of the novel I would learn that some device had been unleashed on the world that was gobbling up words from books and changing the course of history and literature a la Jasper Fforde. Clearly I was wrong! But the curiosity about the missing text remains, and if anyone has a theory please share it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A34U8O9SI8TWTW
• Have Yet To Finish, But Its Great! 17 November, 2008
This book is very hard to read because there are so many references. It confuses me sometimes because I'm wondering...Who actually knows what the author is talking about? Although, that is what intrigues me. It leaves me guessing! It makes me want to strive to figure out exactly what the author is trying to say. I am hooked and can't wait to finish the novel.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3LXP8JXE5X598
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